A drop of sweat trickled down her brow, her breath came out just a bit ragged and her side ached because of the blow his opponent had managed to score with one of his double-headed axes. Each ax was quite wide, and the short handle allowed fast swings and fast blocks at the price of range and power. That compromise was nonetheless serving her opponent well, given that he was proving able to deflect almost every bullet she had sent his way.
The two were circling each other, focused and ready to act or react, but neither willing to go on the offensive again just yet.
Shoko-La considered her options during the brief moment of respite. Slipping inside his guard wasn't all that advantageous, as the last exchange had proven, given the maneuverability of his weapons even in close combat, and besides, he seemed to have chosen to let her waste dust, empty her reserves, and only then going on the offensive.
A valid strategy, no doubt, and one that a hasty or nervous opponent might have fallen for, but Shoko-La prided herself of being sufficiently experienced to know how to deal with opponents with a strong defense. There were several ways, in truth. She could have tried to disarm him (even one less ax would have made him incapable of dealing with her four guns), or impede his movements with some ice dust and then attack from behind, she could have shot at his face in order to force him to cover it with one ax and remain blind to the direction in which she would then aim the other guns and so on...
She was, however, getting tired of the smirk on the face of this arrogant fourth year Shade Academy student that she had hired for a sparring match and was determined to wipe it off with a resounding victory: which meant no tricks or extravagant dust usage. She had to beat him at his own game.
To her knowledge, he still hadn't unlocked his semblance, which meant that he had focused his efforts in the regular training, without becoming one of those fighters that relied heavily on their semblance to be effective. He didn't have a glaring weakness, but that didn't mean he didn't have some nonetheless. The one she was going to exploit was his tendency to defend as well as he possibly could against any attack. From what she had gathered during the fight he didn't like to take damage or trade blows and instead relied on counterattacks. Which meant that whenever or wherever she attacked, he would try to defend in the optimal way to minimize the damage. In this particular case, his only way of blocking her bullets were the axes, so she relied on being able to guide the axes where she needed them to be. Her aura was in the yellow by now, while his was still in the green (albeit at the limit), but that didn't matter: she wanted to bring him down in one fell swoop.
Suddenly she dashed towards him, only to abruptly stop just before entering his reach and jumping up, all 4 of her guns aimed at both his kneecaps. As she had predicted, he lowered both axes to cover his legs.
"I won."
A wide, savage smile split her face when she fired simultaneously with all four guns. The two guns fixed to the back of her shoes still aimed at his opponent's knees, of the two in her hands however she changed the angulation at the last moment so that they were aimed below and behind her instead of below and in front where her target was.
So while the lower guns shot regular bullets, the ones in her hands used dust that propelled her forward with a sudden burst of speed.
She crashed on his opponent (whose arms were lowered in order to defend his knees) and straddled him, binding his arms to his body with her legs, and headbutted him on the nose just to vent her earlier frustration. Of course, he started falling backward, with Shoko firmly wrapped around him with her legs, and both guns in her hands aimed at his chest (aiming at the head would have been too brutal and dangerous for a simple friendly match). She pulled the triggers one, two, three, four, five, six times before his target's back crashed on the floor. An auditory alarm ringed to let them know that the aura of one of the fighters had entered the danger zone. Of course, it wasn't hers.
In hindsight, she shouldn't have been so aggressive. The fight hadn't lasted that long and she had paid the student for two whole hours of training... But now, without aura, he couldn't continue.
"A pity he doesn't tickle my appetites, I could have used an hour of extra training of a different nature. But alas he strikes me as kind of a jerk... So too bad for you."
Shoko thought while letting go of her opponent and raising to her feet. She offered him a hand and thanked him for the fight, promising a rematch.
The student left soon after, but she remained in the gym she had rented for the evening: there was no reason for wasting that investment too.
First of all, though, she had to wash her face (the sweat and the headbutt had left her forehead sore and dirty) and change her clothes.
She was on her way to the changing room when she heard the ringtone of one of her scrolls... the business one.
She took the device and eyed the display with a perplexed look and a sigh.
"Unknown number? And here I thought I had asked my contacts not to give my number to anyone but to act as intermediaries... "
She cleared her voice and brought the scroll to her hear (the communication would be audio only, after all: she couldn't afford to show her face so carelessly).
"Good evening!"
She exclaimed with a bright and courteous voice which was definitely quite different from her spontaneous one.
"You are currently speaking to the secretary employed by the person you're trying to reach. Please state your business and the reason for the call. Rest assured this is, at least to my knowledge, a secure channel."